A bend in the road - Vol 1

43. Those eyes

How they first met was such a cliché. She ran into her quite literally the other day making both of them fall down.

If she thought she was the only clumsy one, she met her match.

"I'm so sorry" said the girl picking up her books and effectively apologizing mile a minute. "I'm sorry, are you hurt?"

"Not so much. Are you?" Geet asked.

The girl looked up then, her eyes a little confused and for some reason nervous.

"Are you hurt?" Geet asked once more, gentler this time.

The girl pushed her spectacles up her bridge of her nose, as she mumbled slowly "No, no" and then got up suddenly.

"Hey" Geet called out after her and although the girl had looked above her shoulder after she had walked away for a while, she didn't stop.

Geet stared at the parting girl and the ID card that girl has left behind.

Neelima, it read.

-

She could deposit with the admin department and could have let it go, or she had the option to wait for her after class to give it in person.

A person who's less dramatic would have done the first thing, Geet thought. But not her. So she waited until after the class. It was not hard to hunt for her class since she was Maths student apparently, from the ID.

Geet thought to catch up with her class notes while she would wait.

She picked up a bench by the neem tree across the lawn and sat there.

Only when she had opened the book, she realized it wasn't hers.

She had flipped pages, going through Neelima's book. It was statistics and by God she loved Maths. Not that she understands it entirely but there's something about Maths, the formulae and the surety it offers that it always made her at peace with her otherwise unpredictable life.

Geet rummaged through the book finally settling on probability theory in the notes the girl had made. She was reading Bayes theorem when she had flipped the next page and found a pencil sketch.

There were doodles here and there so far but in the pin page, the sketch was made was different. It was so life like, Geet was taken aback by the suddenness of it.

It was the sketch of a pair of eyes, and Geet knew somehow that it were a pair that belonged to a man.

The pair of hypnotic eyes were powerful, almost beckoning her. The locks of hair were sketched such that they looked like falling on the forehead. And the eyes... There was something about those eyes. They looked a little familiar, although Geet thought it was insane of her to think so.

She closed the book as she heard saw the class disperse.

Tucking the book back between her other books, she had waited until she had seen Neelima walk out and found the girl look around casually until her eyes met Geet's.

Geet picked up her ID card and waved it in air and saw Neelima check if she was wearing one and slap her forehead.

Geet had no idea why the girl looked like she didn't want to be in Geet's company although she smiled at how Neelima was pushed into being in her company, ironically.

As Neelima walked back to Geet although a little hesitant, Geet produced the ID making the girl take it with a meek "Thanks".

"Just wait" Geet said making sure the girl wouldn't run away again.

"I believe this is yours" said she, producing the book.

Neelima had her eyes widen at the sight of her book and had rummaged through her own to find a similar looking notebook. She had opened the first page to find it wasn't hers.

Giving it back to Geet, she took her own book and the nervousness was palpable. To her credit, Geet didn't comment on the sketch.

"Thanks a lot" she said softly, making Geet smile back.

"I'm Geet" she said extending her hand and Neelima looked at her a little hesitant.

"Neelima" she said with a little gingerness that Geet for some reason found adorable.

"I don't bite" Geet said making Neelima look at her.

After a moment of dismay, Neelima smiled.

"Nice to meet you Geet"

"Likewise" Geet replied and before they could speak some more, Neelima looked at her watch and exclaimed that she was going to be late to her class, her eyes drifting towards the building where Wickham taught Taekwondo.

Geet followed her eyes and looked at Neelima surprised.

"Taekwondo?"

"No" Neelima said coloring a little "Kathak. It's in the third floor of the same building"

"Wow" Geet said, fond as she was of dance.

"Okay then, I won't stall you anymore. See you around" Geet said making Neelima smile at her as she made a dash to her class.

And just like that Geet had a passing memory of watching those eyes... Those unsmiling eyes from the sketch.

But the memory was fleeting so Geet let it go as she went her way.